Please note the upcoming BBC World Service schedule change for this Friday, March 27 at 0200 ET and Saturday, March 28 at 1500 ET.

Program title: Ebola: What Next? Who Runs a Country When It’s In Crisis?

This program will air in place of “Outlook Arts” on March 27 at 0200 ET and “The Documentary” on March 28 at 1500 ET.  There is no change to the BBC World Service clock.

Program Description

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the worst since the disease was identified in 1976. But there is now an encouraging decline in new cases which is raising hopes that a turning point might have been reached in the battle against the disease. So what next – has Ebola been defeated? We take a look at what lessons should be learnt, what the people of West Africa need now, from their own governments and from the international community, and to what extent some of the structural problems of these countries contributed to the deadliness of the disease.

How did Ebola expose the failings in the governance of the nations affected? Did corruption and cronyism, a lack of accountability, an inability to communicate with the people, and sometimes withholding information, lead to rumour, fear and panic? Did Ebola also expose a failure in the systems of the global health emergency response – which was initially slow and uncoordinated and left to individual organisations like Médecins Sans Frontières? Even when Ebola is brought under control – how badly damaged will the remaining infrastructure be?  Many humanitarian disasters have had a crippling effect on other activities essential to a functioning democracy such as food supply, security, industry and trade.

BBC presenter Zeinab Badawi is joined in Accra, Ghana, by a high-level panel of decision-makers from the worlds of politics, business, civil society and the international community to discuss; Ebola: What next?  And who runs a country when it’s in crisis?

Broadcast Details
First air: Friday, March 27
Broadcast window: March 27 – April 8, 2015
Number of episodes: 1

Duration: 49 minutes 30 seconds (23 minutes & 26 minutes 30 seconds) or 59 minutes including the News Bulletins, billboards & promos

Download www.bbc.co.uk/partners availability: from Friday 27 March 10:30 GMT for 14 days